It was a show like no other—our first show during Paris Fashion Week in partnership with Flying Solo. We were lucky enough to have won their ‘Ones to Watch’ brand competition (for the second time!) This time it was their Paris competition, and as such were given a place at their Paris Fashion Week Show! We had no idea what to expect; were people going to show up? Flying Solo is a US company, we knew they are expanding there, but had no idea if anyone knew of them and what kind of show to expect! What if there was little attendance? What do we do in that case? Were we going to get a return on investment or was all of this work and preparation we made for our pieces to go into the show made for nothing?
The event took place at la Galerie Bourbon, 79 bis Av. Marceau, nestled in the heart of Paris, near the buzz of the Arc de Triumph and the steely seductive manifesto of the Eiffel Tower. The venue is quintessentially Parisien, miles of righteously rococo’d chartreuse marble veined walls stuffed with grandiose antique mirrors that were no doubt meant to be looked at not looked into and piles of the most ostentatious crystal chandeliers, effortlessly dripping from the gilded ceilings like radiant groves of succulent fruit, destined for heaven.
The day of the fitting was frantic, it was booked the evening before the show. Models fell over each other everywhere and we were given a late slot; the venue was closing and we didn’t have enough time to fit all our models and would have to come back the day of the show to fit the rest! All worked out the next morning; we arrived first thing and were given a spot with not only more room, but which also had a table and much better lighting! The models that needed fitting eventually showed up and we sorted them out in no time!
There were three shows. We were near the beginning of the second show which worked out perfectly for us as the time slot granted the models enough time to get changed and ready in nearly a civilised amount of time. Outside, crowds were heaving to enter the venue, each ticketed attendee impatiently eager to penetrate the red velvet ropes dividing them from the autumnal drizzle baptising the city of light at the moment on one side and the splendor of Paris Fashion Week erupting inside the ancient salon on the other.
Inside, dozens of trigger happy photographers were perched on top of each other at one end of the catwalk, armed with the latest in long lensed hardware in hopes of capturing the perfect 'je ne sais quoi.' On each side of the runway the audience was alive and ready, shifting side to side to big bass beats amid rising body temperatures and wafting aires of excitement as they blogged into their phones of their latest event.
When showtime commenced it was magical; the minutes crushed together in seconds as the music dramatically changed and hundreds of eyes shifted to the catwalk entrance.
Many thanks to everyone for your support and a special huge thank you to Flying Solo for believing in us! We are beyond grateful for all you have done for us and for all the effort you have done to make our Paris Fashion Week debut a huge success!